By Scott Maben/Spokesman-Review
A well-known Coeur d’Alene pastor who prayed Saturday with Republican presidential hopeful Ted Cruz was shot six times as he was leaving the Altar Church after Sunday services.
Pastor Tim Remington, who has helped hundreds of alcoholics and drug addicts in his ministry, was shot just before 2 p.m. in the parking lot of the church at 901 E. Best Ave., according to Coeur d’Alene police.
The shooter fled in a silver car and is still at large, police Chief Lee White said.
Remington, 55, was rushed to Kootenai Health and was listed in critical condition. He was shot in the lung, head, hip and shoulder, according to John Padula, outreach pastor at the church, who has been in contact with Remington’s family.
Members of the church congregation gathered at the scene to pray and share updates on Remington’s condition.
Roger Crigger, a family friend sharing updates on social media, said he spoke with Remington’s wife Sunday evening and learned that none of the wounds is life-threatening.
“One of the bullets tried to enter the brain but stopped at the skull, one of the bullets busted his hip, one fractured his shoulder pretty bad, but he is and will continue to be alive and serving God!” Crigger said.
Doctors and emergency room workers were calling it a miracle, he continued, “but by God’s standards, it’s another chance to show and appreciate the powerful hand of God!”
Brenda Van Noy, the wife of Candlelight Church Pastor Paul Van Noy, shared a similar hopeful update: “He’s out of surgery. No brain damage. No spinal damage. He’s going to heal from all injuries with no permanent damage.”
May Traverso, who attends Altar Church, described Remington as tirelessly devoted to helping others. “He did not deserve this,” she said, with tears welling in her eyes. “I don’t get this.”
White said the shooting was captured on the church’s surveillance cameras. A white male in a silver vehicle was waiting for Remington in the church parking lot and shot him in the back as Remington was about to get into his car.
Police know of no motive for the shooting, the chief said.
Padula, who viewed the security footage, said the shooter had been inside the church during the morning services and “kind of wandered around,” then went outside and waited in his car about 10 minutes before Remington left the church.
When Remington opened the door of his own vehicle, the shooter walked up behind him “and just started shooting him in the back,” Padula said.
Two men associated with the church quickly ran to Remington to render aid, he added.
The suspect had short and curly blond hair and glasses, looked to be over 6 feet tall, and was in his late 20s to mid-30s, Padula said. He drove a newer silver Honda with tinted windows, he added.
Remington is director of Good Samaritan Rehabilitation, which provides faith-based drug and alcohol treatment. He also spent many years counseling inmates at the Kootenai County Jail.
His faith-based philosophy aims to instill a sense of purpose, identity and confidence in people who lack those qualities, and he believes recovering addicts benefit from spending time with Christian mentors. He and his family have invited addicts to live with them over the years.
“He lives for God and for everybody else. He is the most selfless man I have ever met in my life,” Padula said. “When I was struggling, when I was using drugs still, he just loved the daylights out of me and helped me, as he has done for 1,700 people now who have graduated our program.”
On Saturday, Remington prayed with Cruz backstage at a Cruz rally in Coeur d’Alene, then gave the invocation at the start of the event.
Remington’s wife, Cindy, and their four children were at the hospital with him, Padula said.
